The flapping wings
by Mousou
Summary: pairings: none yet Rated M for future events Where did Naruto get that orange jumpsuit of his? What if he hated it but found a friend and a fox?


The young blonde boy sat across from a blank white mask with an agitated scowl that failed to convey his outrage at the injustice of the situation. He was the one in the uncomfortable chair in the dark, cold, damp room while that swindling Yamaoto was probably already home laughing. The mere thought of the man caused the blue-eyed youth to absent-mindedly rub at his right shoulder and his scowl to deepen further causing his very elongated canines to show.

Naruto Uzumaki at the age of 7 was already infamous for many things-one of which he himself didn't know of- but he was in this room for the reason he knew; his pranks. Normally after one of Naruto's pranks he was dragged to the Hokage-or as he Naruto called him jiji-and got yelled at. Today was unusual though; not only had he been caught he had an arm broken. To clear the entire mess, and because the Hokage was in a meeting, Naruto had been transferred here instead. As far as Naruto was concerned he hadn't done anything wrong...well not THAT wrong. Now he was suffering two kinds of punishment, and barely avoided another, first he was stuck in a dark damp room staring at a black cloaked figure with a blank mask but for eye and mouth holes which lead to number two he was being forced to sit still! Naruto could only be thankful that his arm had not been as damaged as he had thought and would therefore not need to go to that damnable hospital.

Naruto was about to give his vocal chords a workout when a door opened on the side of the room and in walked a person with dark...purple, Naruto guessed, hair a blank mask and a black cloak. Naruto noticed the person made no effort to hide their hair unlike the person sitting opposite him and was holding a clipboard. They looked up from the statement they were perusing and to the young boy on the seat glaring daggers at them as if asking what he'd done wrong.

The figure walked over to their partner and leaned down and waited. The sitting figure retrieved the clipboard never turning to his partner. He held up the clipboard and skimmed the report for the important details then lowered it. "Now then Uzumaki-san would you please state your reason for attempting to dye all of Yamaoto-san's clothes neon orange" asked the gruff voice of an older male.

Naruto crossed his arms and scrunched up his face; "'cause he's a jerk." He answered simply.

"According to Yamaoto-san's statement he has done nothing to warrant such an action so unless you can give a more satisfactory answer..." The figure trailed off letting Naruto's rather creative imagination fill the blanks.

He'd obviously thought of something very bad as his eyes widened considerably, "he chases me out of his store when I haven't done anything! I hardly have anything to wear and it gets cold so I saw him throwing out this horribly coloured jumpsuit it was real thick so I just kind of acted without thinking. But he caught me and made me pay, for something HE threw out! So I was thinking: how'd he like to pay for something that horribly...._orange_" Naruto's sounded particularly disgusted with that word for some reason. Before the figure could ask his next question Naruto hastily cut in; "I don't have any proof though. Like I said he's a jerk so he refused to..." The blonde sounded slightly defeated and lowered his eyes, "and now you're going to add stealing on top of his other complaints right?"

The so-far silent figure decided it was time to speak, 'Yamaoto didn't say a thing about any jumpsuit so one of you is lying". The figure, obviously a girl from her higher pitch said then let a theatrical sigh. "But since there's nothing to prove either the truth or lie we'll just have to let that matter rest. So that leaves only one thing he said when he was chasing you out you crashed against the door frame and hurt your right shoulder is that right?"

Naruto made his 'deep thinking face', "umm I was running so it's kinda...yeah but I just clipped it so I'm fine!" that wasn't the truth at all the bastard had grabbed a nearby metal pipe and started swinging and had connected once with Naruto's arm. Really though he wasn't going to tell these people that as there was nothing they could do right now and he just wanted to go to what he, sometimes bitterly, called home.

The two figures stared at each other for a moment before the female made a movement with her hand indicating he was free to go. The blonde boy was all too happy to oblige as evidenced by the fact that he was out of the door in 8 seconds flat. The female looked to her partner, "how does he survive?"

The male simply got up, ignoring his companion's question outright, and walked away to write out the report of the incident for the Hokage, both sides as they were told and his analysis of the situation; Yamaoto needed to be lynched...immediately, and his suggested course of action; sadly nothing. That was the most frustrating part about anything involving the boy; he healed ridiculously fast and no injuries could be officially reported. Ibiki looked down to the statement collected by Anko; 'It was dark and I thought it was someone dangerous so I struck out with a lead pipe and got the damn brat right in the shoulder. It wasn't till we were outside I saw I was chasing the demon'.

Naruto closed the door to his apartment and cast his eyes around the dirty clothes-filled floor; with no friends and family he never saw a need to clean. He could easily feel the draft from his ever-broken window, it wasn't that Naruto hadn't complained-it was even replaced twice-the damn thing just kept getting broken and he'd learnt to live with it. The problem was it was colder in Konoha this year so he'd needed something thick to sleep in since his paper thin sheets weren't cutting it. It was with this simple need that had lead to the events earlier this evening and it all revolved around that **stupid suit**.

Naruto had decided to skip supper that evening at instead just grabbed the suit pulled out it over his small frame and hobbled over to his bed. The suit was far too big but he would grow into it and it was quite warm and Naruto thought with no small annoyance that he could have liked the thing if not for the misfortune that followed it.

Blue eyes opened to take a look at the slowly revealing world and immediately bugged out. Naruto leapt out of the large plush bed like it was trying to swallow him in his haste he didn't notice a conspicuously absent orange jump suit. He looked around the large room thoroughly confused where once a trashy little apartment there was now splendour. The room was large enough to be his entire apartment but he could see other doors located around that obviously lead to other rooms. His small hard bed had been replaced by a large plush bed with a thick comforter and down-filled pillows. There was a dresser and the blonde's bare feet rested on a soft carefully woven carpet.

Naruto, even realising this was a dream, decided to milk it and turned to examine the wall he'd had his back turned to and was visibly startled by what he saw; much of the wall was window but for a door in glass which could only be opened on one side and it led to a beautifully bejewelled balcony that glittered with the light being cast off the by the dream world's sky. It was neither this nor the sky of the dream world that caught the blue-eyed boy's attention-impressive as something resembling a full moon but blue was in the sea green sky surrounded by swirling clouds of red, purple, and gold. No what had caught the youth's attention was the fact that a girl was sitting on the railing of the balcony her silken red hair gently blowing in the wind a calm simile on her face as golden eyes looked upon the blue moon. But perhaps what had captured Naruto's attention the most was that she was calmly sitting there when there was a huge fox behind her; standing there its tails waving and its fire red fur mostly downed but some pinned to its body directly by the chains that was wrapped around it coming from the sky.

The girl looked down and spotted Naruto her face immediately lightened and she hopped down from the railing her ruby heels making a small clack upon contact her red sleeveless with black trim dress swayed mostly logically expect the split didn't float upwards but seemed to stick ever more stubbornly to her long legs. It was clear she was dressed to seduce men the only real problem with this plan; Naruto was 7 even though he noticed her stunning beauty it didn't shut down his higher brain functions like some older males. "I've been waiting for you Naruto-kun." She purred out and smiled showing off her canines.

Naruto looked at the girl weirdly, while it was certainly not new for someone to know without him knowing them this was just too weird even for a dream! "Why do you know...no, more importantly, what about that fox behind you?" Even with his higher-than-normal voice due to his short statue and occasional screeching the concern in his voice could be discerned quite clearly.

The woman simply turned her head to look behind her and laughed lightly; "they really haven't told you, huh? Though I suppose if they had you'd have been here a long time ago, right?" She had closed her eyes in joys and tilted her head at the end changing her from a seductress to a 'cutie'.

Now Naruto was really confused; "tell me what? Wait first you know my name but what yours?"

"Can you let me in first?"

Naruto put on his 'deep thinking face' "no not until I know who you are and if you're lying then well I don't know but you can't come in!"

This time the girl let out a full laugh that brought tears to her eyes and her down to her knees. "That's good that paranoia may well save you some day Naruto-kun. Okay I'll answer your question," she stood up and pointed to the large chained fox, "I'm that; the Kyuubi."

Naruto blinked, this was honestly the weirdest dream he'd ever had. "Huh, how can you be the Kyuubi even I know the Kyuubi was killed by the Yondaime 7 years a..." Naruto trailed off and shook his head wondering why he'd hesitated.

The Kyuubi chuckled and retook her place staring at the moon from the railings. "See even you can get put 2 and 2 together and get 4. That bastard Yondaime didn't have the strength to seal me properly so he put me in a newborn baby, eh ya know god-like demon anyone else would've exploded. I'd actually be impressed if it hadn't happened to me personally, so there you go I've answered your question gonna let me in now?" She asked with complete seriousness locking her golden eyes onto Naruto's blue as the world started to crack and fly away to disappear into the strange sky. "Aww you're waking up well just call my name if you want advice...maybe I'll answer, maybe." She added the last bit with a mischievous wink.

Naruto let out a gasp as he awoke and discovered he was completely tangled in a certain stupid orange outfit that caused him to scowl and fight to untangle the thing. The short struggle had replaced the cold sweat on Naruto's face with the normal kind but even as he tossed the suit away and began gathering a change of clothes and a towel for his shower that dream kept coming back to him.

Naruto was coming out of the shower and pulling his shirt over his ever-untameable mop of blonde hair when he glanced at his alarm clock, he was awake far earlier than normal his alarm wouldn't even go off for another 3 hours! Rather than return to the strangeness of dreams Naruto turned off his alarm and walked to fix himself some cup ramen.

It was during those agonizing three minutes that a strange idea came to Naruto's mind one sure to shut the still vivid dream up; '_Kyuubi?_'

The response was instant and chilling; '**Yes, Naruto-kun**?' Came back a female voice that sounded faint as if coming from a great distance.

Naruto gulped and willed his courage to let him continue. '_I-I was just checking if-'_

'**That really happened or not? Well as you can tell now it did...oh and Naruto-kun don't tell anyone you know about or can speak with me or try to do "the honourable thing" both will lead to me getting out and finishing what I started understood?**' At around "both" the gentle voice of the female disappeared to be replaced by a deep threatening voice that seemed to growl out every word.

Naruto gulped and continued with the automatic motions of food preparation as he answered; '_go-got it_.'

The female voice returned; '**good so long as we're clear ah one more thing contacting you at all even when you're mad takes a lot of energy so if it's just to bug me I'll be mad...well good night**.'

Naruto hastily finished his cup ramen and made for the door, he really need to get outside. He silently slid into his sandals and made his way out of the building and took off running.

Eventually the blonde collapsed covered in sweat breathing heavily legs trembling. He looked up and saw a canopy of trees that mostly covered his pathetically small body with shade for which he was grateful. Luckily the run had somehow forced Naruto's brain into action and he released the Kyuubi had no affect on his mind nor his actions as far as he knew. It was as Naruto was mulling over this when someone decided to stop just before his head, he had closed his eyes so it was the fact that sensed another presence-he'd slipped his ANBU guard when he woke up early and he knew they'd yet to find him. Naruto sighed and prepared to get up when the person spoke up; "don't move. There is a bug on you I cannot identify so hold on."

The owner of the voice bent down revealing he was wearing a long white overcoat had dark gravity-defying hair and was wearing sunglasses to Naruto's now very open eyes. The mystery person reached out a small hand that seemed out-of-place considering the large size of everything else and lightly lifted something off Naruto's chest. "You may move freely now."

Upon hearing the voice Naruto's first reaction was to run-he had no one around to protect him from "accidents"-until the owner had explained about the bug. Naruto's opened eyes confirmed the person was an Aburame and a young one at that; probably a year or two older than himself. Naruto sat cross legged and turned to face the...boy he guessed just as he released the bug. "Seen it huh?"

"It was a butterfly with abnormal markings upon closer inspection I realized it was trying to blend in with your shirt."

"Got it...so I've never seen you before so who are ya I'm-"

"Uzumaki Naruto, I am aware, as for me I am Aburame Shino. Though now I must admit I'm curious I had heard you were a very deep sleeper who would sleep until well past noon if there are no motivating factors on the day in question. The day is relatively cold and there are no pre-planned events until next week so for what purpose are you awake and running?"

Naruto was staring wide-eyed mouth agape at Shino; he'd never heard of an Aburame speaking for such a long time to another and he'd gotten good at concealing himself after a solid year of running from ANBU so listening to normal citizens was an easy task. At a polite cough Naruto quickly apologized. "No real reason I just had a nightmare and didn't feel like getting back to sleep what about you Aburame-san, are you always here so early?"

Shino looked at Naruto for a moment causing him to shift uncomfortably before answering. "Just Shino is fine Uzumaki-san and yes."

Naruto shot a cheesy grin at Shino before letting out a polite cough of his own, "just Naruto will do Shino-kun." He'd said it in the best copy of the other boy's voice as he could get before breaking out laughter than had him on his back again. "Well, like you right Shino-kun?" His answer was a sigh so the blonde picked a blade of grass and twirled it between his fingers. "So Shino-kun do you already have those bugs in you?"

"Would it bother you if I was indeed already endowed with the basest material for my clan's techniques?" Shino paused to raise his glasses as Naruto stood right up, further accentuating the differences in height between the two boys.

"No of course not you seem kinda cool and it's what is on the inside that counts ri...ah no I mean-" Luckily Naruto was cut off with a held up hand.

"I understand that you meant no offence Uzu...Naruto-san. To answer your earlier question yes the Aburame are given to the Kikai as a host shortly after birth. Those the Kikai willingly make a host of are then sent to the ninja academy the others find other ways to be useful to the clan without direct conflict. "

Naruto was once more sitting cross-legged taking in every word and he realized he and the Aburame were really similar. "Two questions; the first is have any Aburame ever complained about having no choice in the matter and what about you Shino-kun shouldn't you be getting ready for whatever your duty in the clan is?"

Shino tilted his head ever so slightly before beginning; "the Aburame value logic and the advancement of the clan rather than oneself as a standard rule. While an abnormality may appear most Aburame seem content in their chosen roles and thus no inner-conflicts of a serious nature have erupted. As for the second I am enrolling in the ninja academy however due to the date of my birth I was unable to join the current class and will instead be joining the next class. Now then I believe it is my turn; how old are you Naruto-san and what do you plan on doing with your life?"

Naruto plucked another blade of grass and twiddled it about before placing his between his teeth. "I'm 7 as for what to do...well I've always just lived my life one day at a time so I never really thought much about it." It was at this moment that a strong gust of wind kicked up disturbing the branches and causing the area to dance between light and darkness. It also caused Naruto to look up; _leaves so simple no one ever pays attention. That is until they're dancing in the wind and causing this cool green light and shadow dance. Hmm...leaves, Konohagakure....pay attention to..._ Naruto's grin widened as he spat out the blade. "I've decided just like Shino-kun no jiji I'm going to be a ninja a ninja strong enough to protect everyone close to me and be recognized for me! Thanks Shino-kun." The blonde cried before running out of the forest with a certain sparkle in his eyes that hadn't been there when he'd first started this day.

Shino watched the retreating form of the strange blue-eyed boy when the conversation had started he'd seemed depressed and a little scared but not of the usual 'eww bug freak' kind of way. He had actively engaged Shino in conversation and made no effort to escape. Stranger still Shino had stayed and conversed back and Shino had to admit he'd actually felt glad to have someone near his own age to talk to for once. Had there been any doubt in Shino's mind of his capabilities as a ninja it was exterminated by Naruto's energy and enthusiasm especially when he'd all but declared himself the future Hokage of Konoha. Shino began the walk back to the 'hive' as most of the residents of Konoha called the Aburame district; he had come here to assuage himself of his doubts and he was certainly feeling very certain of his future at the moment.

The Third Hokage of Konoha had seen a lot in his relatively long life-considering his occupation-but the last thing he expected was Naruto Uzumaki to run into his office an hour after the ANBU guard had come to him admitting they'd grown lax and only seriously watched for the boy leaving at around ten so he had slipped out early. He was in the process of speaking with Itachi about assistance in finding the blonde and then...he just ran in. Upon spotting Itachi Naruto apologized and made to beat a hasty retreat when Itachi spoke up; "well it would seem that if you speak of the devil he truly will appear...or in this case missing children. Well then Hokage-sama I will tell the guard where to find him while you speak with Uzumaki-san." Itachi bowed to the Sandaime and then walked out closing the door after pushing Naruto back in.

Naruto looked confused for half a second before bounding up to the desk of the most respected man in Konoha. "Hey jiji I wanna be a ninja I can right so just tell me what to do please!" Even Naruto was a little surprised he was able to get that out after running all the way to the Hokage's office and bowling past every guard in his way, which he would admit in retrospect was dumb.

At the moment though all the Sandaime could do was chuckle and smile amusedly at the shining eyes of the oft-demonized boy. Sarutobi privately wondered how the more ignorant citizens of Konoha would react to seeing 'the fox' act this way; well it didn't matter for now all he need focus on was the question posed to him by the eager blonde. "Well first Naruto you must get a form from the academy all instructors have some on hand. The second condition, after obtaining and filling out the form is to have a qualified adult sign off." Sarutobi took a long drag off his pipe before releasing the smoke into the air he was waiting for the information to sink in. When it did it obviously hit Naruto like a ton of bricks because his eyes lost some of their shine and his dropped down, "of course for people with no guardians if I see fit I may sign off as well..."

Naruto's head shot up and looked at the kind old man with eyes shining with hope and tears, "rea-really?" At the nod of the Sandaime's head a blonde blur jumped across his desk, somehow clearing the piles of paperwork, and wrapped skinny well-tanned arms around the old man's throat. 'Thanks jiji its cause you're this awesome that you're Hokage but don't worry I'll hurry and become strong so you can just sit back and rest! 'Cause I'm going to become the next Hokage!"

Sarutobi just chuckled and returned the embrace before making a display of trying to get air making Naruto release his death grip on the old man and just look at him with all the enthusiasm and happiness of a normal 7-year-old. And just as sudden as the encounter began it was over Naruto vaulted the desk, and paperwork, again and turned to flash his jiji one last grin and a wave before running out of the room. Sarutobi could only chuckle and lean back and relax for a few moments before returning to the evil paperwork that came with the job. But he figured he shouldn't get too used to it as Naruto had made a promise and he never went back on his word. Sarutobi sighed and then resumed his battle against the paperwork silently willing Naruto to hurry his ass up and let him rest his tired old bones and achieve both of their dreams.

Naruto discovered the problem with running all over Konoha on only one thing of cup ramen as his stomach let out a low growl. He silently promised his stomach a feast with lots and lots of ramen as soon as he was done at the academy. It was then that the blonde who'd been looking down until that moment, looked up to see the gate of the exact place he was heading to approaching faster than he could stop. Naruto did the first thing that came to mind; he jumped, and after practicing his jumps to speed his ascent of the Hyuuga clan's outer wall so he could literally prank anyone in the village he was able to get enough height so that all he had to do was grip the top bar of the gate and vault over it.

As Naruto landed and started forward a thought gave him pause; would a teacher give him a form if he asked? He knew the answer of course so he let out a quiet sigh and took a look around the yard and found a disturbing amount of people looking at him. This scene was enough to cause the boy to move back a little nervously and think about the best way to escape until he caught a good look at someone's eye and saw a little awe at his little feat. This embarrassed Naruto a little and he reached his left hand around to scratch his neck as he let out a slightly nervous chuckle. Then he heard it the whispering and his sharp ears picked up a certain word; "demon". There was a time where he would not know what that meant and it was so commonplace that he could just shrug it off but after his easy encounter with Shino and jiji he had forgotten the sting that came with that word amplified in that in some small moronic way they were right. Naruto's hand fell limply to his side before he shook his head and regained his confidence but there was still the nagging issue of getting one of those papers.

Naruto thought back and realized that younger people and kinder older people were the ones who were kind to or at least less antagonistic towards him. So he cast his blue eyes around the yard and found most people were either glaring at him or backing away some had turned their backs and were whispering to friends and generally looking nervous. He decided on a girl with longish chestnut hair who was pumping blunt kunai into a tree, Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to know how that was possible. At the very least she seemed to be focused on training and if he could put on a convincing 'shy kid' act he thought he could get his form and not have to get near anyone who may potentially hate him.

Tenten carefully pulled back and released another kunai into the tree so was practicing on. As her father ran a weapons store she had been around them since a young age and was quite well-versed in the mechanics. At the tender age of 8 though she failed to understand why everyone was so jealous...at least until now. She had not been practicing until that small blonde boy leapt the gate. While it wasn't a hard task for any student after a few weeks seeing a small, Tenten guessed 6, child easily perform such a task was a little irksome. And thus Tenten to work off her frustration had set to perfecting her kunai throwing and had tuned out the outside world which was how the kunoichi in training missed the quiet rustling of the grass behind her. "Umm could you help me" asked a quiet high-pitched voice behind her.

Naruto watched the girl twirl away from him and draw out three kunai with her right hand and adjusted his body weight to dodge; he saw what this girl could do and didn't want to be on the wrong end of her attacks. It wasn't until she got a good look before her body seemed to loosen up and put away the kunai. "Ah, sorry reflex, so how can I help?"

Naruto shifted around for a moment before locking his blue eyes onto her light brown ones. "W-well you see I wanna join the academy but since my parents are...not available and I'm running out of time to get the form I'm here to get it myself but well." He drifted off hoping the older girl would fill in the blanks herself.

Tenten looked at the boy carefully and tried to remember why he looked so familiar through the entire speech but eventually just decided he was one of countless kids she'd seen out on the streets. "I get it I'll go get a form for you and give you a little tour as an apology for almost making you a pincushion okay Usagi-kun." She giggled a little and winked at the boy.

Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused "Usagi-kun?"

"Yeah you know how you vaulted that gate it's not a trick I could pull off at 6."

"I'm 7" Naruto decided to leave the issue of his name alone, if she didn't directly ask it wasn't technically wrong.

Tenten caught onto the fact that the boy hadn't given her his real name but just guessed he liked his new nickname and thus left it alone. Instead she spent the remainder of her break showing the blonde around until his stomach growled which caused Tenten to break out laughing and offer him a rice ball which he accepted between apologies. She decided to leave him to eat while she got the form for him and slipped into her classroom, which she had conveniently forgot to bring him to until just that moment. "Umm sensei do you have any applicant forms on hand?"

Her sensei turned at simply gave the attentive girl a strange look, "I thought you didn't have any siblings Tenten-chan?"

"I don't but this boy I met wants to join but he was nervous about approaching you or any of the other teachers so do you have one?"

Her sensei opened a drawer on his desk and pulled it out and handed it to his student then an idea popped into his head. "You know we're going to have a new teacher come in and review the basics so why don't you ask him if he wishes to stay." Tenten's sensei had been forewarned of the large amount of chakra that had entered the school grounds when it had entered and he was trying to decipher why someone that presumably strong would be in the school-and by extension why the ANBU had yet to show up, and therefore the thought to ask for at least the boy's name never came to him which he would soon regret.

Tenten nodded energetically and ran out the door to do just that. She was just out of the door when she saw the boy and barely stopped in time to keep from bowling him over. "Here you are," she said sweetly handing over the acquired form. "Oh and apparently next year's sensei's is coming in for a review and sensei said if you wanted to you could sit in as well Usagi-kun...oh come to think of it it'd be weird to introduce you like that so what's your name...ah right and I'm Tenten."

Naruto inwardly flinched as he pretended to read the form; well he was just not as closely as he was making it appear, at being asked his name. He silently cursed his luck and prayed to Kami-sama that this nice girl, Tenten, wouldn't suddenly hate him for it, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Tenten was inwardly shocked; she'd heard Naruto was a wild cruel thief who was more demon than human not some little blonde boy who was scared to ask for so much as the smallest generosity. He'd seemed apprehensive about asking her for help and downright mortified and ashamed when she practically forced that stupid little rice ball into his hands. Tenten crossed her arms and fixed him with a glare while tapping her foot and she felt a little ashamed when he wilted and looked ready to run away. "Well Naruto you answered my second question but what about the lesson so hurry your ass up and answer." She tried her best to copy the voice her father used with rude costumers who seemed more interested in yelling at him than actually picking out a weapon.

Naruto turned back to the girl and for the first time Naruto felt indecisive; on one hand he'd been invited it'd have been strange to kick him out after that but on the other if he entered and the sensei took it out on Tenten then he wouldn't be able to handle the guilt. Well he would just personally make sure no such thing happened. "Okay, thanks Tenten-chan!" He gave her his best smile as he said it.

Tenten inwardly let out a sigh of relief as the announcement of the resuming of the classes was let out. She quickly grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him towards the room before he could change his mind. Once they were through the door she just kept on moving-straight into her sensei. "Huh sensei what's up?"

Naruto gulped and actually tried to hide behind Tenten when her sensei pointed to him. "He has to sit at the front don't want to confuse the newbie." Naruto pulled his hand from Tenten and smiled when she turned to look at him then he walked over to the seat obviously pulled out for the guest and sat down. "Good now wait I'll explain to the class when they're all here." Naruto carefully followed Tenten's sensei as he stood behind his desk then found Tenten sitting in the front row pulling out her supplies and stopping near the beginning. Naruto sat silently and kept himself busy by picking out the kids who looked interesting he was mostly getting hateful glares in return. It wasn't until a white-eyed boy with bandages around his forehead entered that Naruto was even remotely interested in the class at large, with the obvious exception of Tenten, two things caught Naruto's attention the first was how he walked with an air of smug confidence like he knew everything and the second was the way almost every girl was reacting; gushing and hushed whisperings and some screams of 'I love you Neji-kun'. Naruto noticed that for her part Tenten was just shaking her head and looking disappointed which as far as he was concerned a point in her favour, the young Hyuuga seemed to agree as he took a seat beside her. The next interesting one was a boy with abnormally large eyebrows whose appearance triggered snickers from the group at large; expect the Hyuuga who just seemed to be basking in some silent victory and Tenten who was giving the boy a slightly sympathetic look. The last person to enter was a man who appeared to be in his late teens early twenties in a fairly basic outfit for any Konoha chuunin and a scar on his nose. When this man, obviously the new teacher, spotted Naruto he started visibly then turned a confused look on his sempai at the school.

The usual sensei looked at his students, "the elder man is Umino Iruka he's a new teacher and he'll be reviewing the basics as both a test of his skills and your memory so books away." The students all groaned at the word 'review' and even more so at having to put away the very books they just took out. "The other guest is Uzumaki Naruto he plans to attend the academy next year and considering the situation I invited him to sit in on this lesson thanks to Tenten-san. Now then I'll hand you over to Umino-san."

Naruto gave the man death glare when he went out of his way to shift the person who brought him into the classroom from himself to Tenten, oh yes he would have to deal with this man after class. For now though he was paying attention to the man who deserved it at the moment, Iruka-sensei who was busying himself taking attendance. It was through listening to this that he was able to learn the boy with large eyebrows name was Rock Lee and he already knew Neji's name due to the screaming girls and other than that he didn't pay much attention.

Once the necessary task of attendance was done, during which Iruka memorized several of the faces attached to the names of the students, Iruka decided to start off easy and asked what exactly was chakra several hands were in the air straight away eager to answer such an easy question but instead he choose a slower but slightly surer hand, "Yes Tenten-san?"

Tenten was surprised she hadn't anticipated this new teacher to so quickly memorize names but began her description hoping he'd miss the slight pause in her response. "Chakra is the energy in our bodies; it is the combination of both our physical energies, or stamina, and mental prowess, intelligence. Everyone has chakra inside them just as everyone has blood but not everyone is able to use mould chakra well enough to be shinobi." At the end Tenten gasped as several sniggers could be heard throughout the class as Lee lowered his head, "but chakra is not all you need to be as good shinobi there are other aspects." Lee raised his head slightly and smiled appreciatively at Tenten.

Iruka looked towards Lee quite confused his face a good mirror of Naruto's own but it was a cold voice that answered the unspoken question; "Lee-san was born with underdeveloped chakra coils. Due to this is he unable to mould chakra beyond basic jutsu." Iruka looked at Neji and threw his next question at him, name three of the basic steps; "entering step, pivot step, cross step." He answered without missing a beat as the girls once more broke into rancour at how great "Neji-kun" was. Most of the boys seemed jealous but all Iruka could do was sigh and then look surprised and turn to Naruto who'd mirrored his reaction, again.

He shook his head and turned back to the class; "Now then what is the most basic jutsu and how is used?" Again a lot of hands went up but he decided he would let Lee get back some pride with his answer, "yes Lee-san?"

Lee's voice was filled with energy and he seemed to be trying to get as many people as possible to listen to him when he spoke, "hai the most basic jutsu shinobi can use is the bunshin. It is an E-ranked jutsu that creates a copy of the user with no physical substance. Its main use is to create a quick diversion however it is easily seen through." When someone made a snide comment about how 'of course Lee knew THAT' he felt dumb for raising his hand.

"Hey what's wrong with answering a question you jerk?" Yelled a suddenly irate blonde who'd literally leapt to his feet causing the chair he was sitting on to fall over. "Well," he demanded crossing his arms then; "are you just going to sit there looking dumb or are you going to hurry your ass up and answer?" Naruto took up a familiar looking stand-offish posture with his spine slightly arched back arms crossed and legs spread wide. He glared angrily at the boy who'd spoken up who mumbled an apology and then looked away.

Iruka cleared his throat and then turned his eyes onto Naruto, "while there's nothing wrong with either Lee's answer or the base sentiment of what Naruto said I will ask that you don't do something like that again understood Naruto?" Naruto just chuckled nervously in response then put the chair back in position before sitting down. "Good now then I want everyone to line up and perform the bunshin jutsu." Iruka's ability to cause the suddenly much more dangerous sounding and looking blonde who their parents often called a demon garnered him a certain respect and fear from the class so they listened quite easily. Iruka watched carefully and found most of the students could produce at least one standing bunshin with ease, expect Lee who obviously needed to concentrate Neji who made two and Tenten who's command was to do a low bow to Iruka.

The rest of the lesson was focused around the history of the leaf village. Iruka thought the class was going well so far, some minor issues aside, until someone mentioned the upcoming festival on the 10th. Iruka had been keeping Naruto in the corner of his eye to make sure the impulsive kid didn't strike the next kid who made him mad but that was quickly proving to be pointless as he just sat there focused...until history came up where he just seemed to lose interest and fidget but now he looked like he'd been struck and his head went down any expression on his face hidden by the shadows of his hair. Had he not been so focused on the dejected blonde he might have noticed the concerned looking brown-haired girl in the front. "The festival of remembrance is designed to remember the sacrifices of those who died fighting the Kyuubi. Sandaime-sama thought it better to have a day of remembrance with a festival than a day of mourning to remind the living they are just that, alive and must make the most of it while remembering the sacrifices that allow such things. I think that's about time so thank you for allowing me to practice my techniques on you you've been a great class." As if taking Iruka's words as a cue the announcement of lunch rang out for the younger students.

Naruto watched the kids scramble out eager to get to lunch when his stomach growled prompting his face to turn a fine crimson and look to the floor again. When a pair of feet entered his vision he looked up to find Iruka-sensei looking a little sheepish. "So Uzumaki-san since neither of us is forced to stay in bounds how about I take you somewhere for lunch and have a talk about language." Naruto was ready to dismiss the man until he saw Tenten just hovering there so he assumed she was hoping he would agree and if not she might try to convince him to take Iruka-sensei up on the offer which hurt the speech he'd put together during the boring history part of the lesson. So Naruto put on the best fake smile he could and happily closed his eyes, "sure thanks Iruka-sensei. I just want to thank Tenten-sensei's I'll catch up so go ahead."

Naruto was glad to see the seemingly kind man and Tenten go but unfortunately now there was a new roadblock for him to deal with...one with abnormally large eyebrows. "Thank you Naruto-san my fires of youth faltered for a moment but your words have inspired me to work hard thank you!" And then the strange boy ran out of the room while Naruto tried to purge his mind of the image of Lee's eyes actually being filled with flame that had wiggled its way in during the short encounter.

Finally Naruto was able to reach the desk and turned on his heel to level a glare, which must have looked ridiculous on a 7-year-old, at the man. "Look," he began with a strangely icy voice compared to his eyes. "Tenten-san is a very nice girl who just wanted to help what she saw as some 6-year-old ninja-wannabe. We've never met before so don't take whatever stupidity it is that makes you hate me even though we've never met out on her."

The sensei just laughed and then sneered at the small blue-eyed boy. "Exactly; someone like her can't understand exactly what you are demon." He made sure to spit the word 'demon' at Naruto to emphasize his point. "Though I can't fathom why you'd bother to put up this act after everyone's already left but I know exactly **what** you are so your fake concern won't sway me; now get out of here before I do what that spineless Sandaime should have done."

And Naruto did just that; he'd never actively antagonized someone before to such an extent and hadn't expected such a vicious answer. He especially hadn't been ready for someone to take a shot at the Hokage the way that man had just done. It was due to this state of confusion that he didn't realize he was being gently pulled along until a voice penetrated the haze of his mind. "Naruto we're almost there so I was wondering how you feel about ramen." Naruto looked up and met Iruka's questioning stare before pulling his hand out of the man's grip.

"We're already out of the school so there's no need to pretend anymore no one will scold you for being mean to me here. More importantly though Tenten's not here and I just accepted so she wouldn't worry so bye." In retrospect Naruto would realize just how mad he'd had to have been to go off on someone like that. Naruto turned to walk away only to have his hand gripped tightly and he was swung right around to meet the eyes of the man he'd just insulted but they didn't look angry just hurt.

"Naruto just stay quiet and listen to everything I'm about to tell you. Despite what the reactions of some villagers may tell you not everyone hates you and rather assuming without proof that someone's going to hate you, you should hope for the best and expect people to see you for who you are not your reputation." Iruka started walking again pleased that at the very least Naruto wasn't pulling away or fighting. "It's going be hard and you'll probably be hurt a lot but you jumped to the defence of that boy Lee without thinking and it proves you're a good kid don't let the stupidity of others ruin that okay?" Iruka had been rather nervous not only was he trying to explain a delicate situation to a little boy he was also dancing just around the Hokage's law with his words. Iruka didn't get a verbal response however Naruto's hand tightened around his own. "You know you still haven't answered my question about ramen."

"Ramen what you're bringing me to get ramen say so sooner lets go." Suddenly Iruka found himself being dragged along until Naruto suddenly stopped and turned to look at him with a slightly embarrassed look. "Umm where are we going again?" Iruka chuckled and took up the lead position again until they reached his favourite ramen stand; Ichiraku ramen.

Ayame Ichiraku smiled sweetly when one of her favourite customers entered the small ramen stand she worked in with her father Teuchi, at least until she saw his small tag-along. While she held no personal grudge against the boy she had often heard from other merchants that he was a thief and was prone to dine and dashes and was a little wary of serving him. She immediately moved forward and handed the pair their menus and gave a confused look at Iruka who glared in returned.

"Ah Iruka here after your first hard day of teaching, eh" Ayame heard her father chuckle from behind her. She realized her positioning kept her father from seeing the boy so she shifted a little to give him a look. "So the usual for you I assume and your little friend?" Ayame almost fainted as her father gave a warm smile at the demon boy and listened to his order of miso ramen.

It was in this frame of mind that she followed her father to the ovens with two bowls, "dad you do know who that is out there right?"

Teuchi just smiled and nodded, "yes a friend of Iruka; Uzumaki Naruto, right? Now then Ayame do you really believe that Iruka would bring him here if he wasn't trustworthy?" His question was asked lightly enough but the stress of the question could still be felt as he dished out the two servings into the waiting bowls.

Ayame hung her head a little when she answered, "no." She then brought out the orders and made sure to give Naruto a sweet smile then straightened up and tapped her finger against her chin."Oh by the way you qualify for the' good friend of Iruka 'discount so the first bowl's on the house 'kay?" Ayame had just made that up on the spot but she wasn't going to say the real reason she had felt compelled to give the child a free bowl; a deadly combo of prevalent guilt, Iruka's glare and her father's guilt trip. Ayame looked at Iruka and found him eating but giving her a very approving look and she was just happy to be in his good graces again.

Then she heard the sounds of someone gulping and looked over to see Naruto finishing the first bowl with a great big smile plastered on his face. "That was great and better free so there should be no problem with seconds right Iruka-sensei pllleeease this is the best ramen I've ever had. Oh and this time lets go for pork ramen." Ayame just chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair before calling the order back to her father which was met with protest from Iruka who never said anything a second bowl. Ayame however had already moved on to another customer and couldn't hear him.

Iruka also had seconds but by that time Naruto was onto his fifth bowl, luckily he seemed to fill up here and as Iruka shelled out the cash he silently vowed to make this a rare occurrence lest he go broke. He turned to Naruto who was rubbing his neck a little then he let out a hasty apology and said he had to go fill out a form.

Naruto got all of two steps when he remembered the actions of that Ayame girl, an adult...kind of who was nice to him despite him being him even if it was just Iruka's influence. With this in mind he turned around and fixed Iruka with a small smile, "Iruka-sensei about what you said earlier, I'll definitely remember it, bye!" With that Naruto ran off he had to finish filling out his form so he could get jiji to sign off on it before it got too late. Naruto felt he'd still be up later but he didn't want to bother the old man too late.

It wasn't until Naruto was home and filling out the form that he realized just how hard this was going to be for him the first question was about known family members; none. Things headed down from there; siblings: none occupation of parents: N/A age upon enrolment: 8. And so on and so forth each a cruel reminder of what Naruto didn't have up to birthday: October 10th which was the third reminder of his cursed birthday that day which brought forth another all too painful fact; what was sealed within him: The Kyuubi. Perhaps the worst part was that he couldn't tell anyone he knew or else the fox would find a way to do something horrible to Konoha. "Hmm now that I think about it I'm already protecting everyone so becoming Hokage really is the only logical choice for me." With that Naruto took a deep breath and soldiered on until he completed the form and all that was left was the signature of guardian.

"Ugh finally done the stupid thing." Naruto then fell onto his back and looked at his slightly cracked ceiling and he was slightly glad he wasn't quite on the top floor so at least he didn't have to deal with both a chill and leaks. Naruto wasn't sure how the two ideas fit together maybe it had just been his thinking about both chakra and The Kyuubi at roughly the same or maybe it had been the mere existence of someone like Rock Lee but he had certainly thought of it; '_Hey_ _Kyuubi'_

'**I assume this is important,'** answered back a slightly irritated sounding female voice.

'_Well as far I'm concerned. Well all living beings have chakra so I know I do but will having you in me make it act weird or mess me up?'_

'**Well as far as I can tell my being sealed inside you has had a noticeable effect on your chakra, specifically your already slightly-larger-than-normal chakra pool has been expanded several times. In other words you already had a lot of the stuff now you have more, lots more.'**

'_Okay so far so good, but do you still have the chakra from when you were alive and how will it affect mine?'_

'**First off technically I'm still alive and will be for a long yet if I have anything to say about it. Second I'm made mostly of chakra so yes, and third I've already experimented mixing my chakra with yours-'**

'_What? Why? How?' _If Naruto had caught the fact that it was now the menacing growl of the Kyuubi rather than the sweeter feminine voice it wasn't immediately apparent.

'**You heard me the first time, I was trying to take over that primitive brain of yours, it seems this seal was designed for me to push some of my chakra past it to you but never so much as to gain control...it's a very good seal. My only guess is that the bastard wanted me to help you out by giving my chakra to you as a bolster for your reserves and probably to heal you which I've had a lot of practice doing. Finally stop freaking out I stopped when you were 3.'**

'_Okay, but I have no intention of asking you for help if I can help it I just wanted to make sure you didn't mess with me in the academy. '_

'**Good because I have no intention of letting you become some kind of weakling who can only rely on the power of others so I'll only be helping during emergencies.' **

'_While I'm thinking about it, why do you heal me anyway you don't seem like you like me so what are you getting out of it?'_

For once the answer wasn't automatic instead there was momentary pause then; '**the seal. It forces my chakra out in a medicinal form to heal your frail little human body.'**

'_Yeah that figures'_ Naruto looked at his usually useless alarm clock; he'd arrived home at around 1:30 it was now 3:00 despite the fact that to Naruto filling out that form had felt like it had taken more than an hour and a half about 2 hours more. That had been his plan; to do the half hour run to the Hokage's tower at 5:30 get it signed at 6:00 then deliver the form at 6:45 emphasizing the signature of the Hokage to prevent any 'funny business.' Now he suddenly found himself with a lot of free time...and a new thing to do besides play pranks. So Naruto took a deep breath and focused and found it quite easy to get in touch with his chakra mostly because it seemed to be trying to actively escape its container. With this done Naruto decided it was time to try that bunshin jutsu so he thought back carefully to the practical demonstration of the technique then began forcing his hands into the correct positions. The unexpected problem with this was as soon as he did them the first time in proper sequence he felt a slightly pleasant drain and in a proof of smoke...two pathetic Naruto clones lay at his feet sprawled out their bodies several shades lighter than they should have been and then they 'poofed' away as pathetic in their end as their short span of existence.

Naruto stared critically at the spot where the clones had been then scowled, "the hell was that? Fine this time I'll definitely do it right!" With this declaration Naruto focused his energy on getting the bunshin jutsu to work for him.

Tenten was sitting at home making a show of staring at her notes and occasionally making writing movements with her hand but at the moment her mind was far from the lessons of the academy instead doubts were infesting her mind both of her peers and parents. When Tenten came home she had practiced to try and distract herself from the questions swirling in her mind; she had a hit: miss ratio of 3:7; her worst since beginning her formal training. After picking up the kunai she could find she had headed inside for dinner.

During dinner her father asked how her day was and she responded with her usual way; 'the same' then a pause. "Until break and this small boy jumped the academy's gate, he approached me about getting an entrance form for him since he was kinda nervous about meeting a stranger. Of course he approached me silently after I'd turned my back so I almost turned the kid into a pincushion so as a sorry I showed him the whole school. I guess he hadn't eaten either because his stomach growled real loud so I gave him a rice ball but he was so hesitant and apologetic it was a little weird even for someone who was as shy as him. Anyway I got the form and sensei explained to me that the next year's sensei was coming in for a review and even invited my little guest lucky for him, huh?

"He was a little hesitant, but agreed after I used a line I picked up from you dad though he may have just been trying to be polite. "

"What phrase exactly Tenten?" Her father asked pointedly.

"The one you use when you want a customer to...umm 'hurry their ass up'." Tenten replied sheepishly.

"Tenten watch your language!"

"Sorry I was frustrated; anyway after that class started and the new sensei-Iruka-who' amazing by the way he even memorized most every name and face of the students straight off even the guest's. Things got kinda tense when Lee-san, you know the special case in the class, got insulted by some jerk but then the kid just went off at him I was a little embarrassed when he used the same line I used on him minutes before though, hehe."

Tenten's father though still irked that his precious, if fiery, daughter was already learning language especially since he was the teacher, let out a deep chuckle. Her mother however just smiled the same honey sweet smile her daughter had and commented on how he must be a nice boy to overcome his shyness to defend someone else. While Tenten had not started this retelling for any real reason except to be honest this seemed to her as good a time as any to drop her bombshell; "yeah I hadn't expected Naruto-kun to be so nice from what I've heard."

Her father had been swallowing food but the revelation of 'the shy boy's' name had caught him so off guard his first reaction was to cry foul this attempt caused him to choke slightly and take a long drink. When he recovered he gave his daughter a kindly look; "now Tenten one thing to remember is people can lie to hide their intentions." Like Ayame Tenten's father had no personal experience with Naruto and he thought he was just trying to protect his precious daughter from the wild kleptomaniac 'demon'. Ironically he had never considered the exact advice he was giving his daughter in respect to the reports to the boy.

"So when you say Naruto-kun is a lying violent thief you could be lying to me?"

Tenten's father had no immediate response but his wife had been expecting such a turn of events and rather smoothly picked up the hanging question; "we could be. Tenten but remember; your father and I have only your best interests at heart and wouldn't lie to you knowingly if it would hurt you. However other people will you need to be prepared for that but if you feel Uzumaki-san is trustworthy than go for it, but please be a little wary."

Tenten looked a little rebellious before nodding. With that out of the way the table's occupants slipped into a silence that was much less awkward then one would expect and even that was only because now Tenten was thinking about the conversation she had had with Iruka-sensei after class. "Dad can I ask you for something...?"


End file.
